Sparks, Flames, Embers
Chapter 9: Secrets
He knows.
~A~
One hour earlier…
Howard was sitting in the theater lobby munching on popcorn, waiting for his date to inexplicably get done primping in the bathroom so that they could go sit in a dark theater, when he saw Them.
A tall, skinny blonde-haired man and a curvy brunette walking out of theater #3, holding hands. And it was not just any blonde and brunette, but it was Jack bloody Thompson and Peggy Carter. And did he mention that they were holding hands?
What. The. Bloody. Hell?
It wasn't just that they were holding hands, but Peggy was looking up at that – that… beastly arrogant prick of a man with that look of hers. It was her look of hope and bemused wonder, along with that nervous nibbling of her lower lip, and… and it was just wrong.
The last time he had seen that look on her face she was in the early stages of dating Steve.
Jack Thompson did not deserve that look. He did not deserve even breathing the same air as her, much less be holding hands.
Howard found himself abandoning his popcorn and stalking after the couple as they were heading out the exit doors. He was going to talk some sense into Peggy and somehow make sure that the bastard didn't lay another finger on his friend's girl.
He was nearly to the double doors himself, when not one but two sets of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and upper arms and frog marched him into the nearest men's restroom.
When he saw the reflections of the two men who nabbed him in the bathroom's mirror, he could not believe his eyes.
He had expected goons of his competitors, or maybe some Sigma Sigma Rho buddies of Thompson's. Well, one of them was, but he had thought that Daniel Sousa was Peggy's friend too.
And he would have never believed that Jarvis – Jarvis! – would betray him and Peggy like this.
His shock had caused him to slump in their hold so they loosened their grip and let him go. When he spun around to face them, he could see that while they were giving him space, they were not giving him enough to allow him to slip past them.
At this he exploded.
"What the fuck?!"
"We're trying to save you from yourself," Sousa patronizingly explained.
"Save me? Save me? What about Peggy?"
"And that attitude right there just goes to show that you need saving. How do you think Peggy would react if she found out that you thought she needed saving?" Sousa retorted exasperatedly.
With equal exasperation, Howard whirled to glare at his supposed friend, "Eh tu, Brute?"
Jarvis shrugged calmly, "She's happy. It's the happiest I have seen her since she started mourning Steve Rogers. No offense, Mr. Sousa."
"None taken, Mr. Jarvis," Sousa grunted.
"But how can she be? It's Jack Thompson," he quarreled. "He'll hurt her."
"I don't think he will, Howard," Jarvis mused. "I saw how he was with her tonight. The way he looked at her when she was not aware, the last time I saw that kind of expression on a man's face it was on photos of my own self when I first started dating Ana."
He scoffed, "Well, he's nothing like you, Jarvis."
"If he's half the man I am, he won't hurt her, at least not intentionally," his friend retorted with far more backbone than he usually did with him.
"It doesn't have to be intentional. Those two fight like cats and dogs. It will never work, and the break up will be explosive."
"I don't know how they work, but they do work, Stark. I've seen it, and heard more than I have cared to," Sousa interjected. "And not to sound biblical and all, but I think in the case of 'iron sharpens iron', they make each other stronger and better."
Howard wanted to reply with something along the lines of 'yeah, well, their mutual iron sharpening will only make their tongues that more capable of carving each other's hearts out', but he couldn't. He was stuck more on the first part of Sousa's statement.
"How long has this been going on?" he asked suspiciously.
Jarvis looked to Sousa, who replied matter-of-factly like a man ripping off a Band-Aid, "Since the beginning of the semester, maybe the end of last."
If the man's intent was to soften the blow, he needn't have bothered. It was like he had been punched in the gut. Peggy, one of the few people he could truly call his friend, who was practically a sister to him, had been seeing a guy for over two months, possibly two and a half, and she hadn't felt like she could tell him. And by the looks of it, she hadn't told Jarvis until recently, most likely so that he wouldn't find out.
And that hurt. It hurt, not because he felt betrayed by her, but more because he felt like had let her down. She hadn't trusted him to be supportive of her, to be there for her, and it looked like she had been right not to.
His shoulders slumped, and with a weariness he had not let himself express in front of others, he sighed, "I won't go after them."
The two men took their time to gauge his sincerity, but Jarvis stepped back first.
Howard walked past them without a word, or at least that is what he intended to do, but when he reached the door, he turned back to his friend and said, "Tell Peggy that when she's ready, I'll listen."
And then he went to face the music that was most likely by now his irate date.
~A~
It had been an almost perfect evening.
It had been a little awkward at first as they readjusted their usual pattern of communication. Nonverbally, lately it seemed that they only touched when trying to arouse the other, and while also lately their words more often than not were meant to do the same, there were still the times that there were exchanges of barbs and digs, especially when they were sparring in class.
So it was unusual when the touches were innocent – his hand at her back as he guided her to their seats, both at the theater and then to the little French bistro they went to afterwards, their hands grazing as they reached into the popcorn bag at the same time, her hand patting his arm when he jumped apparently forgetting when exactly the 'Bride' appears out of seemingly nowhere.
But they were able to get past it and have a good time.
At the bistro, they talked of their families and their mutual struggles with living up to their parents' expectations. She even told him a little bit about Fred, he told her about his high school sweetheart, and they exchanged stories about even more awkward dates than this.
And then just as he was walking her to her car…
Daniel S.: Stark knows. He spotted you at the theater.
Edwin J.: He knows.
Edwin J.: He promised to listen when you are ready to talk.
Before she could really comprehend all of what that meant, Jack was saying, "Stark saw us at the theater."
"I know. Daniel and Jarvis sent me a text," she found herself whispering. "Edwin thinks he'll listen if I talk to him."
Jack went momentarily still and then his hands went into his pockets and he began to fidget with what she suspected were his keys. It was an oddly endearing sign of when he was nervous, especially when paired with his oh-so-casual, "And if you were to talk to him, what would you say?"
She cocked her hip against her car and crossed her arms, pretending it was due to the cool night air rather than a need to comfort herself as she admitted, "I don't know. It depends…"
"On what?" he quietly prompted, dropping his nonchalant air to look at her with genuine curiosity.
She looked up at him and met his dark blue gaze, bravely saying, "On whether or not you truly meant that what you said about having a good time or whether that is just what you say to all the girls that you never mean to call back. On whether you want this to continue or whether you think we should stop this right now before it gets anymore out of hand."
Jack looked at her steadily for a moment, his face and eyes unreadable in the dim light that the streetlamp provided, and then his hands were out of his pockets and somehow on either side of her head on her car, even before she could blink.
He leaned down, forcing her to lean back, and over the loud thudding of the pounding blood in her ears and her quick nervous breaths, she heard him lowly rasp into her ear with almost deadly earnestness, "One, I am always honest with you and have never lied to you, Marge. I meant what I said. And two, I don't want to stop ever."
And then he kissed her – long, hard, and deep – until she was nothing but a breathy panting mess.
When he was done with her (kissing her that is), she managed to stutter out, "Al-alright. I'll – I'll tell him that. 'That' as in th-that's the plan, and – and I want it too."
If he hadn't turned her legs to jelly, she would have kneed him in the groin for his self-satisfied and amused smirk. As she couldn't though, she made her parting shot as she slid into her car be:
"And that's what I'll tell Angie too."
~A~
Eventually, Peggy did talk to Howard. It took her about 24 hours, but that only had half to do with her dreading it. The other half was due to their busy schedules.
He took it far calmer than she expected. He let her get it all out, and only asked once if Jack was 'being a smooth talking son of a bitch just so he can keep screwing the daylights out of you?'
And when she had said, "of course, he is, but it is not just that", he had nodded once in acceptance, trusting her instincts, and only cautioned, "I'll not say another word then and do my best not to antagonize him, but, Peggy, if he breaks your heart, you can be damn sure I won't be offering him a job." What was left unsaid was more than just 'like I did Wilkes' but also 'I will make him un-hirable'.
As intense as that conversation was with Howard, she was far more unsettled by her confessional conversation with Angie.
The night of her date, she came home to find Angie quoting Shakespeare.
"Well, that's apropos."
Angie stopped her recitation to look at her quizzically, "What is?"
"That you're quoting Much Ado About Nothing," she replied taking off her jacket and hanging it up before plopping on the couch.
"And why is that?" Angie prompted, she asked as she cleared off the other end of the couch to join her.
"Because I have a confession to make," Peggy stated. "I am Beatrice to Jack Thompson's Benedick."
Instead of the shock and amazement or gushing 'Oh my gosh! How did that happen? Details, details, woman!', she got a sly smirk and a confession of her own: "I know."
"You know?"
Angie nodded smugly, "I know. Geez, English, I am a little hurt that you don't think I have observation skills. I am a drama major after all. Human nature is what we study."
"But – but – how do you know?" Peggy stammered in bewilderment.
Angie beamed with pride as she began counting off on her fingers, "Well, one, I have been your roommate for two years. I know when you're getting somethin' somethin' and when you're not. When you were ready to date again and weren't, and when you and Daniel broke things off before you got to that level, you were a right cranky bitch, morning, noon, and night. But after Wilkes dumped you, not even spending the holidays with the fam brought you that far down. And when Howard pulled that douche hiring move with Wilkes, there was a far too decided pep to your step for it to be anything else.
"And two, you didn't tell me who it was, so it must be someone that you had reservations about. Only if it was someone you didn't know about, you would have asked me for the down low on him, so it must be someone you did. Three, this was confirmed when I found a Sigma Sigma Rho hoodie in your laundry one day…
Peggy let out a low groan of dismay at this. One of the times she had left the frat house, it had been raining and she hadn't had her jacket with her. Jack would have a field day with this if he ever found out that she had given herself away because of that.
"…and four, I have always thought you had that kind of chemistry between the two of you, and you should have jumped his bones ages ago, and – "
"You thought that?!"
Peggy couldn't believe her ears, nor could she believe her eyes when her friend bobbed her pretty head in the affirmative. "But if you knew all of this, why didn't you say anything?"
At this, Angie's smug smile faltered a little. "Well, at first, I figured I would let you have your secret forbidden romance. That always spices things up a little, you know? So I made sure to have 'rehearsals' or would go out to see my family more, so I could give you two space."
"But…?" Peggy prompted when the smile completely failed and her friend began to nervously bite her lip and fidget with her jacket strings in her hands.
"But…" Angie sighed dramatically. "I got a little passive-aggressive after a while, when it became weeks and you still weren't telling me anything."
"So the visits to your family stopped and you all of a sudden needed to study 'away from distractions'?" Peggy asked. It was more rhetorical as all the pieces began to fall into place.
"I did need to study, but I kind of made sure to do it when it would most likely interfere with your guys' – er – time together," Angie admitted sheepishly.
Peggy thought about all the frustrating times of getting worked up from non-stop text messages all day and not being able to act on it, of getting nearly caught by Mrs. Frye (oh dear God, please let it have been nearly), and she wanted to reprimand Angie for not just telling her that she knew. If she could have kept the fact that she knew about the two of them herself for that long, she could have been trusted not to let it loose on the rumor mill and of getting back to Howard.
But then Peggy realized whose fault it really was that Angie had not felt that she could do so. It was a sad commentary on her judgment that she had trusted Jack's frat brothers to keep mum about their secret before she had trusted her very own best girlfriend's discretion.
"I am sorry, Angie. I should have told you from the start. I should have trusted you."
"Yes, you should have," Angie declared. Her words might have seemed harsh, but her tone was kind. "Out of curiosity, why now?"
So Peggy told her, and as she told her, she realized she might have another reason to forgive Angie's passive-aggressiveness. If it hadn't been for her sabotaging hers and Jack's 'together time', they might never had gotten the courage to be more than whatever it was that they had been to each other.
As disconcerting as it was to find out Angie had suspected the two of them all along and that she had sadly misjudged his friend's ability to keep a secret, what was more unsettling was the last question Angie had asked her.
"Hey, English?"
"Yes, Angie?"
"I was wondering…if not now but some time down the road, can you see yourself introducing Jack to your family? You couldn't with Jason, but could you one day with Jack?"
"I honestly don't know, Angie."
She didn't know. But she could admit, even if only to herself, that she was far more terrified at the idea of doing so with Jack, rather than just simply reluctant which she had been with Jason.
And that had to mean something, right?
A/N: I hope you enjoyed their First Date Night. If you did, give a little love and review. If you didn't, that's okay. Kind, constructive criticism and feedback is always appreciated.
... and Happy Valentine's Day!